First Amendment

A friend caught me the other day making a simple but profound mistake. While bemoaning the recent SCOTUS decision on ObamacareTax, I brought up the wrongness of striking down the Stolen Valor Act, which made it illegal to claim to be a war hero.

“Why do we need a law against that?” He asked. “We’ve already got laws on the books against fraud. We don’t need to pass another law every time someone gets their panties in a wad about some hot-button issue, especially when there’s usually a law already on the books to address a particular infraction.”

Much as I hate to be wrong, I was. I let my respect for our veterans cloud my judgement. I was reminded yet again to be wary of issuing laws at the whim of what seems expedient which, like my friend pointed out, usually serve to be just another tightening of the clamp around our freedoms.

Don’t let your emotional response to an issue cloud your reasoning. Of course it’s despicable to imitate a war hero or veteran, but it’s not a crime until that person uses the deception for monetary or personal gain. So in this case, the SCOTUS ruled correctly.

We must maintain vigilance over our own righteous outrages in order to be true to the real cause of liberty, even and especially if it’s speech we don’t agree with, because that is one thing distinguishing us from those that would silence our opinions just because we express dissent.

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it. ~ Voltaire

The right to free speech is one of the many things our heroes fight for. We would do them a grave disservice by diminishing that right in the slightest, especially with some attempt to defend their honor which can never, ever be stolen by anyone.

“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” ~ Ronald Reagan

If one of the duties of government is to safeguard the individual liberty of it’s citizens, then a number of our Texas State Representatives missed a golden opportunity with regard to (82) HJR 135, and in doing so, thumbed their noses at religious freedom and individual sovereignty.

We the people of Texas were not allowed to vote on this amendment because even though the committee voted unanimously to send the bill for a vote, it did not gain the 2/3 majority required to present it to the people. Sadly, some of our Representatives failed to protect religious freedom from the growing federal leviathan.

In the waning hours of the 82nd session of the Texas Legislature, a bill quietly wound its way through the political machine in Austin that was, perhaps, one of the most important bills in the session.

Introduced by Representative Larry Phillips, HJR135 was a proposed constitutional amendment that seemed like a “no-brainer” and under a Texas House of Representatives with a supermajority of Republicans, should have passed with no problems.

The bill would have corrected what has been a glaring oversight in the Bill of Rights in our state constitution â€“ the mandate of protection of religious liberty.

It would have amended the Article 1 Section 6 of the Texas Constitution that currently reads:

“All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. No human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship.”

However, with continual attacks from the Federal Government on the religious liberties of Texans, HJR135 would have placed before the voters an opportunity to strengthen the protection by adding the following language to Section 6:

“The government may not, directly, indirectly, or incidentally, substantially burden an individual’s or a religious organization’s conduct that is based on a sincerely held religious belief, unless the government is: acting to further a compelling governmental interest, and using the least restrictive available means to do so. But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect equally every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship.”

However, this proposed amendment did not appear on the ballot for Constitutional amendments this past November. With a Republican supermajority in the House, it failed to receive the support of 2/3rds of the members necessary to be placed on the ballot and, therefore, Texans did not get a chance to vote for it.

The session closed and this bill to protect your religious liberty died a quiet death.

However, this bill, its death and the responsibility of purported “conservatives” who voted to kill it are all roaring back to the surface.

The consequences of the death of this bill are now being felt at this very moment by Catholics, Baptists, Methodists and virtually all other religious denominations throughout Texas.

As Texans everywhere prepare for the disastrous implementation of ObamaCare, Christians and all people of faith are now at a decision point. “Do we obey God or government?”

A provision of ObamaCare mandates that all health-care plans in the United States cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including “Plan B” and others that cause abortions.

Religious hospitals, universities and charitable organizations would not be exempt from the regulation, nor would individual Christians, business owners, or insurers.

This ObamaCare provision forces those who are opposed to abortion to violate their conscience and participate in support of those actions.

However, had every Republican in the Texas House voted for HJR135 then the Legislature would have been forced to take action against this Federal attack on religious liberty and the Attorney General would have firm, unambiguous Constitutional grounds to fight for the rights of Christians in Texas.

We teach our children that actions have consequences. This is why. The actions of those who killed HJR135 will have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.

Rather than standing for religious liberty their lack of courage opened the door for those who would seek to take it away. Rather than allowing the people of Texas to raise their voices in support of religious liberty, they robbed us of that right. Rather than giving us concrete protection of our “natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of our own consciences”, they force us to answer the question, “Do I obey God or government?”

Here is a list of State Representatives who voted against religious liberty in Texas:

Please consider donating to Daniel’s campaign to unseat a life-long liberal and certified RINO. We need to remind Austin of Texas’ duty to protect it’s people from the intrusion of the federal government into decisions which aught to be entirely personal.

A trio of Houston area veterans groups is suing Veterans Affairs and the director of the local National Cemetery claiming they’re trying to censor religious freedom during funerals and other ceremonies.

This is an outrage and should not be allowed to continue. The families of our fallen heroes should be allowed any form of prayer or religious services they wish without the government’s pre-approval of prayers submitted beforehand.

Just last week, a federal tyrant threatened the Texas Senate with grounding all flights in Texas if the anti-groping bill was passed. Yesterday another federal tyrant, an unelected appointed-for-life federal judge named Fred Biery, banned any and all prayer at the Medina Valley ISD graduation ceremonies.

He went as far as to order students and administration that they could not use words like “prayer,” or “bow their heads,” or “amen” upon penalty of jail time for contempt of court.

Folks, it doesn’t get any more outrageous than this. There’s only one real solution: civil disobedience by students at the Medina Valley ISD graduation, followed by interposition and nullification of the judge’s order by the governor. The sovereign state should interpose itself between the tyrant and its citizens to prevent abuses of the Constitution, and nullify this judge’s unconstitutional order. It’s the only solution that preserves the students’ rights in time for their graduation.

Rick Perry talks a good talk about protecting state’s rights. This is where the rubber meets the road. Governor Perry should order state troopers and other law enforcement personnel to protect the administration and students of Medina Valley ISD from arrest. Furthermore, this federal judge ought to be tried for unlawful assaults and threats. If I illegally threatened to kidnap and jail someone for praying in public, that would be a crime, and it’s the same crime even if it’s done by an unelected tyrant in a black robe.

Take action:

Please send a fax to Governor Perry asking him to use every resource of the state to protect these students’ civil rights:

You know, last time I checked, the First Amendment provides us with freedom of religion, to worship in the manner of our choosing, not freedom from religion. No one in the graduation audience will be forced to pray. I promise. If you don’t want to, then don’t. Go get a beverage or a souvenir. Or you could just stand there and politely keep your yap shut for a moment. The Muslim terrorists in Gitmo have more religious freedom than those on the left would allow our students.

FCC Hates Beautiful Women! Â Â Â Save Rule 5 from FCC!

Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government’s reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.

This is flat out unconstitutional. Once again, the Obama regime attempts to exert more control on free speech, internet access and beautiful girls. What is the world coming to?

The bailouts and takeovers were just the start of it all.

Obamacare’s death panels will decide who lives and dies according to some unknown standard of faceless nameless bureaucrats and pencil pushers who will have access to your credit, voting and video rental records.

We are supposed to be OK with a Ground Zero Mosque while they tell us to not celebrate Christmas.

Government has ruined the Gulf’s oil production and increased foreign access to the same waters.

The Food bill will put the FDA and the EPA in your backyard garden.

And to top it all off, after DADT is repealed, military recruitment will be decimated.

Why not just bow to our enemies and invite an attack? Oh. Yea, too late.

My friends, this lame duck congress and out of control administration are over the top with their sequestering of our rights and their undermining of our country and way of life. It’s insidious.Â The little nibbles and nips we have felt over the years were but a taste teaser leading to the gluttonous feast we experience and witness now.

We, the American People, must take the unprecedented step to issue a decree or petition of No Confidence in Obama and the Congress as it stands. (Is that possible? I don’t know. Couldn’t hurt to try it.)

Obama, Congress and all federal agencies must cease and desist all activity with regard to legislation and the drafting of new regulations until the new Congress is sworn in. And next year, if the new blood doesn’t turn the tide, woe be unto them, for the new decree will be a new election as soon as humanly possible, using paper ballots and a thorough ouster of all Senators and Representatives. Every last one. Start over. Clean slate. Restore and repair and repeal the amendments to the Constitution back to 1890 when the Communists began their treachery. McCarthy was right!

What else is there to do if we are to save the republic?

I know, I started off trying to be light-hearted about the net neutrality thing, but I can’t. I even made a new header and all attempting to get in the Christmas spirit. Believe me when I say, I know who wins in the long run. He is risen and shall come again. Jesus is the reason for the season. I know.

It just breaks my heart to see our country go down without so much as a whimper with these guys at the helm and a bunch of smarmy Liberal Progressives gloating over their “victory.” Victory over what? Common sense?

Andrew McCarthy, writingÂ in the NRO today cites a Washington Times article questioning the ever popular subject of the left, “Separation of Church and State.” It’s interestingÂ especially when the government now appears to be financing a fund raising trip by the very Imam who is behind the Ground Zero mosque in New York.

This appears to be a direct violation of that clause but who wants to bet that the MSM stays as far away from it as they did Obama’s background with known terrorists like Bill Ayers or fact that he’s admitted he’s Muslim?

Happy first day of Rama-dumb, my fellow Americans. They think you are.

Like this:

Have you heard of this? Some students were asked to stop singing the National Anthem at the Lincoln Memorial. I almost didn’t believe it. Almost. So I did a quick BING search and found this at First Patriots:

â€œAs YAF participant, Sean Balcomb said of the incident, â€œI didnâ€™t know there was a volume limit for our national anthem at a national monument, especially on such an important day in our great nationâ€™s history.â€

Last Friday night, students attending Young Americaâ€™s Foundationâ€™s High School Leadership Conference were in for quite the shock when they were asked by security to stop singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

I can’t tell you how proud of these young people I am right now. God Bless these young patriots.

â€œHonestly,â€ Maggie said. â€œWhoâ€™s going to clean up all of this trash? These Congressmen and Senators sure made a mess in the streets when they shredded those old papers, didnâ€™t they?â€

The two were sitting on a bench across New Jersey Avenue from the Capitol Building, watching remnants of the founding documents float and flitter, tossed by a blustery wind.

They were old enough to know they werenâ€™t welcome in that area, but still too young to give a flying fig if anyone cared. Besides, whoâ€™s going to arrest them? After the riots, the police had either quit or joined one side or the other. The patrols those days consisted of United Nations troops who wore their body armor and carried full autos. Two old homeless geezers posed no threat. The threat had come from within and now that everyone had picked sides and the civil war was on full scale, if you didnâ€™t carry anything worth stealing, almost everyone left you alone. Itâ€™s funny how anarchy works if you donâ€™t play a part.

The crusty pair knew they were in danger, but they somehow pushed those thoughts to the recesses of their minds. Or mayhap they knew full well, but entertained the danger like some 65 year old bungee jumpers.

â€œYup, Youâ€™ve gotta hand it to â€˜em. They sure know how to throw a party.â€ Then Maggie added, â€˜You wanna head over to the park? I hear thereâ€™s a card game and I wouldnâ€™t mind going to Andy’s Place to see some Flopping Aces by fire light.â€

The old man, who had been quiet to this point, finally spoke up. â€œNah, Iâ€™m tired and you know, Iâ€™m not in the mood to hear Gorges’ Grouse tonight. That guyâ€™s always moaninâ€™ about something.â€

â€œYeaâ€ she said. â€œIt was fun though. One time, I was chasing a ball and I jumped the fence into that little Backyard. Conservative couple lived there. I remember the lady yelling at me, â€˜Woman Honor Thyselfâ€™ she said. Maybe I should have listened to her. Look at me now. Ah well, I never was The Thinker that you are, Harold.â€

â€œThen how come itâ€™s you that keeps a journal?â€ he asked. â€œYou remember when we crashed the car into The Foundry? I would have given a thousand dollar bill for Paps Thoughts after we nursed that heap home that night with the busted radiator.â€

â€œHa! You donâ€™t remember too well do ya?â€ Maggie corrected. â€œPap was drunk and passed out in Carol’s Closet! He was sure pissed the next day though, â€˜Not one dollar. NOT ONE RED CENT am I giving you to fix that jalopy you call an automobile!â€™ he said, and he meant it.â€

Harold gave a couple of Sharp Elbows to the side.Â â€œHar! *cough* Quit it. Youâ€™ll make me hack up a lung with talk like that. Heh heh.â€

â€œThere you go again, trying to bring out My Bossier side. Iâ€™m not here to coddle you mister. Iâ€™m in survival mode, donâ€™ cha know. Now git yer ass up anâ€™ letâ€™s go. Weâ€™ve still got to Discover the Networks around here if we gonna stay alive in this new world. If we were still working for Paco Enterprises, the old man would be havinâ€™ none of your sloth and I donâ€™t mean to either. Itâ€™s going to be dark soon and we need some shelter. You know it ainâ€™t safe in that there Capitol Building now that all oâ€™ them Obama flies moved in.â€

â€œFiles,â€ He said.

â€œWhat?â€

â€œNot flies, files. The Oh, bama FILESâ€ He slowed it down for her. â€œThey moved those files in there for storage. Donâ€™t you member? Thatâ€™s why come they got all them extra military types around here.â€

â€œYea, I rememberâ€ She mumbled. â€œWell what do you want to do then?â€

â€œThereâ€™s always the Jefferson Memorial. No-one goes there anymore and I stashed a pry bar over there to open one of the lower sashes with.â€

â€œWell, ainâ€™t you just The Live Wyer! When were you planning on letting me in on this particular Volokh Conspiracy?â€ She admonished him with a not-so playful slap to the back of his head.

â€œOwww! Take â€˜er easy there Mama, I told you didnâ€™t I? Now letâ€™s mosey. Those camos over there ainâ€™t looking too friendly.â€

They both got up slowly, exaggerating their age with the charade of pain that comes with practice. Act like youâ€™re feeble and hurting and youâ€™re not a threat. At least, that was the theory. Problem was it wasnâ€™t far from the truth.

Harold stooped to pick up Maggie’s Notebook from the bench and they turned south toward Independence Avenue. â€œWeâ€™d better get movingâ€ he said. Itâ€™ll be getting dark in a couple of hours and I donâ€™t wanna see any oâ€™ them Moonbatterys tonight.

The Conservative Lady began walking beside him and they picked up speed. Neither one turned to look at the guards pacing about the Capitol steps, hoping they wouldnâ€™t follow.

â€œHeh, Who are they going to email, each other? No-one else has power.â€

â€œYou got a point there.â€

They turned west onto Independence Avenue and began the mile and a half trek to the Memorial. The once scenic surroundings, majestic trees and marble facades of the historic buildings had taken on a new meaning, as if to mark the past greatness of America with some cryptic Signal. Â 94 blocks away, Jefferson waited for them, as patient and secretive, as he was in life. Harold and Maggie walked on astride, knowing they needed shelter before dark. The ones who roamed the night werenâ€™t as friendly as the camos. It was best not to be seen at all after dark.

Just off the street, Maggie caught a glimpse of movement. She tugged at Haroldâ€™s arm to stop. They both looked on as a little field rabbit foraged in one of the parks along the way. Maggie wondered what the little bunni made of its new surroundings.Â An Amusing Bunni’s Musings of the brave new world, she thought. No doubt the bunni was able to find more humor than they.

The pair moved on, amazingly un-accosted, finally turning left onto Raoul Wallenberg, then Maine Ave, and then right onto East Basin.

There was old Thomas, laid on his side by the rioters or some unknown force of explosion. The once mighty pillars that held his bronze likeness in a cage now lay strewn about and broken like so many logs in a foresterâ€™s harvest. Thomas was free and yet remained. It was as if he couldnâ€™t bear to leave the home heâ€™d become accustomed to, much like the people of the country he had a hand in founding. When it came time for them to rise to the challenge he issued 200 years ago, they forgot what price freedom demands.

Lain off to one side, an engraving remained. Words of the great American Thinker, philosopher, Architect, statesman and President:

â€œWe hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We…solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states…And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.â€

Harold remembered once more the last time he saw the memorial intact and shuddered. â€œHow could we lose our sacred honor?â€ He wondered

Another dusty panel still remained as well. Harold brushed off the debris.

â€œAlmighty God hath created the mind free…All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens…are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion…No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.â€

â€œMaybe one day those words will again hold meaning, Maggie.â€

They crawled over and under the pillars and stones around to the side of the memorial. Harold rummaged around beneath some brush and produced the pry bar he had promised. They each looked around to make sure no-one was looking on and Harold began working on the means of entrance to their new shelter.

[Note: this is the third and last in a series of experiments in linking (Rule 2). The first two are Robo-Love Experiment #1 and Robo-Love Experiment #2. Please excuse the use of poetic license. No resemblance was meant to any real persons, Maggie especially, it just served as a convenient way to work in your blog title. I hope you don’t mind.

And my apologies for being so dark lately. It’s just my attempt to wake some folks up.]

Over the past eleven months, a recurring theme of mine has been to ruminate on the perils of big government and what we can do to combat the over reaching arm of federal encroachments on our liberty and freedom. Since some of you are new to the blog, and since I transferred quite a few of those essays from the old site yesterday, I thought I would take the opportunity to point you to the “Prime” tab which will hold links to those essays for your reference.

As an introduction, in reverse order of appearance, here are ten essays on

Note also that within the “Prime” tab are what I consider to be some of the best writing by other bloggers I’ve run across in my travels. I don’t always have time or think of bookmarking a post so the list is a bit short for now. Most of my time online lately is focused on defeating the Godzilla of a government we’ve been growing, so if your wondrous work is absent, please take no offense at the omission, it may be that I simply haven’t read that particular work or wasn’t in a situation where I was able to make a note. Either way, the fault I’m sure, lies with me.

In addition to the random readings titled “From Other Blogs,” my friends at The Resistance have been very busy assembling valuable information for us to use and peruse. Those links will be posted on “Prime” also as they come available. I will try to make a note of when I make an addition to the “Prime” tab here on the front page but do check out that page from time to time as I may have forgotten to make note. They don’t call me “Mind-Numbed” for nothing.

Carol, over at No Sheeples Here truly is standing guard over liberty. One needs no further proof than to read her admonishment to the media and, yes, to many of us bloggers over the deafening silence she heard when the news surfaced that some 73,000 blogs were shut down by our benevolent government.

What in the world!?

This is indeed, to use the regime’s favorite word, historic, unprecedented is a word I would add. An entire server on the allegations that an unspecified number of the clients were sharing copyrighted material?

Needless to say, I believe this to be more Jack-Booted thuggery from the Obama regime.

Next:

There is another post on Carol’s site that deserves your attention as well, all of them actually, but this one she asked me to share, so I will gladly do so. It seems that while rummaging around in what must be a vast collection of artwork and saved articles from the web she ran across a piece that struck a chord of truth and begged for action.

Note:

On a personal note, I had planned to finish the Robo-Love Experiment series today, but the news of the server being taken down prompted me to switch to archive mode. I’ll be grabbing as much as I can from the old blog (just in case) before I do anything else so, it’s uncertain if I can get to it what with normal chores and the various and sundry. Life does interfere with blogging now and again.

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